EU Bans Tuna Fishing As Quotas Breached

The European Commission on Wednesday banned bluefin tuna fishing in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean for the rest of the year because of over-fishing and dwindling stocks. The decision was taken after information from member states on their catches showed that the 2007 quota of 16,779.5 tonnes had been exhausted, the EU's executive arm said in a statement. "The commission must therefore close the whole EU fishery," it said. The ban concerns Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain. The other two member states involved, Italy and France, closed their own fisheries in July and August respectively. "Clearly there are problems both of over-fishing a stock already threatened with collapse and of equity between the member states concerned," said European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg...